# Behavioral control recruits prefrontal circuits that modulate conditioned fear

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO · 2020 · $231,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The degree of behavioral control that an organism (rodent to human) can exert over an adverse event is
arguably the most potent variable yet discovered that modulates the behavioral and neurochemical impact of
that event. When the organism does have an element of control, the behavioral and neurochemical sequelae
of the adverse event are blunted or eliminated. Importantly, the experience of control not only blunts the impact
of the stressor being controlled, but also blunts the impact of stressors experienced much later (at least one
month), that is, control produces future resilience in the face of adversity. Recent research has extended the
study of the impact of experiencing control to determining whether future fear processes might be altered.
Indeed, the experience of control reduces future fear conditioning, facilitates future fear extinction and prevents
the spontaneous recovery of fear. In addition, we have extended the study of controllability phenomena to
females, and surprisingly, here control does not blunt the impact of stressors or alter later fear conditioning.
The proposed research focuses on the roles of specific prefrontal cortex circuits in mediating the effects of
control on fear processes, as well as a determination of exactly how critical prefrontal circuits may respond to
stressors differently in males and females.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9937846
- **Project number:** 5R21MH116353-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL V BARATTA
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $231,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9937846

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9937846, Behavioral control recruits prefrontal circuits that modulate conditioned fear (5R21MH116353-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9937846. Licensed CC0.

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